Bonfires and Hummingbirds
by ExplainingTheIndescribable
Summary: AU. Snapshot of a life where Bellamione is canon. Or they were, until Hermione is nearly killed and ends up in a coma courtesy of a burglar who still wants to get rid of the only witness. Luckily for him, Hermione walks right into his path the minute she regains consciousness and escapes hospital. Bella's slowly losing it, and doesn't know what's really going on. Probable two shot.


She looked down at the shattered bits of coloured glass in her hand that had once been a small hummingbird. She walked over to the bin, but she couldn't bring herself to throw them away. All she could do was stare at the little pieces of glass that, when whole, had been the most precious thing in her whole entire world.

Bella had always admired hummingbirds when she was little and went to the park with her family, but it was when Andromeda had given her a book about them that the fancy had really taken hold. She found that they were both beautiful and fascinatingly intricate with the sounds they could make.

When she was older and taking things she shouldn't have been taking to get out of situations she shouldn't have gotten herself into, she pretended she was a hummingbird. A small beautiful creature that could fly wherever it chose and sing a merry tune without worry for the restraints and practicalities of being human. Once Bellatrix was so sure she could morph into a bird and fly away that she jumped off a third floor balcony.

She didn't fly that day.

Or any of the other times she tried.

As she grew older still, her desire for freedom grew, and her love of hummingbirds grew with it. And when a stranger who quickly became a friend, who ended up being so much more before she vanished, gave her a tiny glass hummingbird, it was the most wonderful gift she had ever received. The glass was clear, with ribbons of bright blues and pinks and yellows running along the edges, across the tips of wings ready for flight and down the beak pointed skyward. The whole creature could comfortably fit in a small child's palm, and hung delicately from a gold string.

 _So you can let it fly anywhere… it's feet never have to touch the ground._

She remembered the words exactly, as though they had merely been spoken seconds ago in the same gentle voice she missed hearing every morning over coffee and toast with jam. A voice that was now silent, with the heavily scarred owner suspended in a coma.

Every other item holding a memory of her, had been reduced to cinders. Flames born from an intruder who was careless enough to leave evidence, yet careful enough to want to destroy it forever. Along with the only witness.

This was the last solitary thing she had left to remember the last ten years of her life. Her first love. Her best friend. The last remnant of the person who made her realise she wasn't incomplete, mad or broken, and she didn't need to escape and fly away.

A decade of living reduced to memories and shattered pieces of coloured glass.

A breeze drifted through the kitchen window, and lifted the gold string off her hand to dance on the current of the air. She watched it as it was carried away, out of the window and then… it was gone. She looked back down at the tiny pieces of glass.

Maybe it was time to try to fly just once more.

One more time, and this time she would do it properly. She glanced skyward and smiled as though assuring someone she would see them soon.

The window slammed shut. That lingering smile turned into a frown.

Bella glanced back up, briefly entertaining the thought that it could have been a sign

She waited for some other absolution for a moment. When none came, she started towards the bathroom and the cabinet within.

The door slammed shut before she reached it.

The window behind her was still closed. There was no breeze, nor anyone who could have somehow closed the door in front of her without her seeing.

She opened the door cautiously, wielding a frying pan, and was greeted by Crookshanks walking in the catflap at the same time.

He padded over to her and sat in front of her, as though it hadn't been a year since she had last seen him, like he came home for dinner every day.

And he had, up until two weeks before the incident.

They had never been friends, merely tolerated each other for Hermione's sake.

Realising food wasn't about to come his way, he curled up in the corridor corner where his basket used to be, and promptly went to sleep.

She very nearly rolled her eyes. Picking him up, careful of the claws, she took him upstairs with her. It was warmer up there during the night.

Plus she just didn't want to have to deal with a frozen catsicle in the morning.

She hesitated on her way past the bathroom door, and Crookshanks stirred for the first time since she had lifted him from his nestling place.

"Funny cat"

She whispered, then continued.

She would work out what to do with him in the morning. Hermione would not be very impressed if she left him here alone.

 _Three blocks away_

A young woman wearing a hospital gown was breathing heavily. Walking was a lot more exhausting than she remembered it to be.

So she decided to get a taxi.

Besides, it was late at night and it was hardly as though she could defend herself if something were to happen. Better to be safe.

Two minutes after settling down, the lights were out and the bed was starting to warm up, Bellatrix felt Crookshanks leap off the bed and scamper down the corridor

Bella stared after him blankly in the darkness for a moment. This was too much for one night.

"See you next year, buddy"

 _Five blocks away_

"You know I'm pretty sure you missed the turning back there… I think it was the other fork"

"Don't worry doll, this is a nifty lil shortcut, you'll be home in no time at all" He glanced at her, and attempted to give her a reassuring look in the rearview mirror. It came off as more of a constipated grimace.

His boss had been looking for a girl with her description for a long time. Must've been more than a year by now, he thought. If it wasn't her, then fair enough, no harm no fowl. He would take her home for free. But if it was… there was a nice price on her head that would buy him a lot more than the shiny new car he had seen on tv the other day.

He took a picture of her with his phone when she was distracted looking out of the window, and he sent it to his boss.

The reply was instantaneous

' _Bring her in.'_


End file.
